#TwitterBan: House Speaker Blocks Move To Lift Ban
The Nigerian house of representatives speaker turned down a plea by members of the house to lift the ban on twitter.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives turned down a motion on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 to shut down an order seeking to lobby the Nigerian Government to lift the Twitter ban.
The point of order was raised by Kingsley Chinda, a member representing Obio/Akpor Constituency in Rivers State, South-south Nigeria when he prayed the House to lobby the executive arm of government to lift the ban on the site until the committee set up to look into the ban concludes its investigation.
Chinda argued that the ban infringed on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression but Gbajabiamila insisted that a committee had already been set up by the House to investigate the matter.
The speaker further explained that it was against the rules of the House to revisit a motion that had already been deliberated upon also citing Section 6 of the House Rules.
Gbajabiamila, like Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Yemi Oshinbajo, the Vice President is yet to deactivate his Twitter handle despite the ban on the operations of the social media platform and threats by the government to prosecute those who defy the suspension.
But members of the PDP Caucus, the country’s major opposition party in the House of Representatives, staged a walkout from the plenary as a protest against the Speaker’s decision.
The House had earlier on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 asked its committees on communication, justice, information and culture, and national security and intelligence to open an investigation surrounding the controversies on the suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian Government on Friday, June 4.
The Speaker directed the committees to report to the House within ten (10) days.
HumAngle also reported that Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, was summoned by the green chambers over the suspension.
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